Armstrong: Mars trip will be easier

Published: Sep 07, 2005
Source: www.cnn.com



KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) -- Neil Armstrong said Tuesday that a human expedition to Mars won't happen for at least 20 years, but might be easier than the trip that made him the first person to step onto the moon in 1969.

Armstrong said scientists must develop better onboard spacecraft technology and stronger shields to block space radiation before people can travel to Mars.

"It will certainly be 20 years or more before that happens," the former astronaut said at a global leadership forum in Malaysia.

"It will be expensive," he said. "It will take a lot of energy and a complex spacecraft. But I suspect that -- even though the various questions are difficult and many -- they are not as difficult and many as those we faced when we started the Apollo (space program) in 1961."

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